Council to spend savings on maintenance

East Riding Council is planning to spend an extra £3.3m on highways maintenance following a cost-cutting drive.

Belt-tightening measures at the local authority have resulted in £16m of savings which will now be targeted at priority areas like fixing potholes.

The council has made 47 people redundant since 2010 and another 170 posts are at risk of redundancy in the next two years.

Council leader Stephen Parnaby told the Hull Daily Mail: "Road maintenance remains a significant pressure because of the size of the network in the East Riding and the continuing impact of the severe winter weather in recent years.

"It is also one of the top priorities identified by our residents through budget consultations and it is good that the council can respond so positively as a result of prudent financial management.

"Prioritising highways maintenance is not new and we have already put in considerable additional funds over and above normal budgets to carry out essential repair work.

"An extra £500,000 was allocated in the 2011-12 budget and previously the council found £1.4 million from contingency funds to respond to the impact on the roads of the terrible weather we had at the end of 2010."

The council has also secured £2.4 million from a Government funding pot for road repairs.